Happy 2010!!!

Magnet #679 - Luzern

Happy New Year!

I visited Lucerne (Luzern in German, Lucerna in Italian) during our American Musical Ambassadors tour many years ago, but that was pre-magnet collecting days. So I was totally excited when I found this magnet on our Zurich layover. Yay!

I picked this one for New Year's Day, because if there's something that signifies renewal and new beginnings, it's the Kapellbrücke, or "Chapel Bridge."

The original bridge was built in 1333, and had 120 paintings that were begun in the 1500s, documenting the city's history. But in 1993, it nearly burned to the water. I can't imagine how heartbreaking it was to lose it, and then to have to restore as much as they could.

But, restore it they did, to almost its former glory, a testament to man's ability to restore, renew and rebuild.

Here's hoping we can do the same - taking the best of the past, and using it to make 2010 the best year ever.

eta:
Oh! Speaking of new beginnings, we're anxiously awaiting the arrival of a special stork delivery for one of my friends. The kid's a dozen days late, so maybe it'll decide it wants to be a New Year's kid!

Pip, pip, cheerio, and all that rot

Magnet #196 - Tower of London

Country #7 - Great Britain

Since I've done several London posts, and likely to do more - short and sweet for this one.

So at this point we're in the home stretch, the last stop before flying back home. We've just spent the night swaying back and forth across the Channel, where I remember very clearly rocking back and forth in the bathroom, telling my friends that for sure, Gopher, Isaac, and the Doc weren't swaying to and fro on the Love Boat.

After more tours, and more tours and more museums, we played our last concert at the Barbican, and that was the end of that. Oh! And I totally got ripped off, having to pay like $150-200 for Phantom tickets. For standing room and obstructed view! Though as every band geek knows, back then, the tix were worth it, though, even if it wasn't anyone of note as the Phantom.

Whirlwind trip to be sure...one not to be forgotten. I mean, if you think about it, I remember the fun stuff. And the historical stuff, well, that will always be there to revisit.

Oh, except for that chapel at Windsor Castle. Damned if they didn't have to rebuild it, after it burned down shortly after our visit.

I swear, it wasn't us, though between that chapel bridge in Lucerne and this one, I was starting to wonder...

High on a hill was a lonely goatherd...

Magnet #194 - Val d'Isere, France

Country #5 - Switzerland

Again, I'm stretching with an applicable magnet.

A friend brought me this magnet (thanks!) from his ski trip to Val d'Isere in the French Alps...but today's musical ambassadors country is actually Switzerland. So maybe this magnetpost is really more Alps-y.

The confusion, though, is kinda fitting, because we're more than halfway through, and at this point, it's been about a dozen days, five performances, four countries, countless cities and villages, a lot of buses and many, many tours.

Lucky for me, I'd already discovered the magical restorative powers of Toblerone. Not the U.S.-made, weak-ass Toblerone. We're talkin' caffeine-laden, ultra-rich European Toblerone. AWE.Some. And I distinctly remember eating Toblerone as we traveled the through the incredible St. Gotthard Pass - seriously, it's God's country through there.

Let's see...Switzerland - Lugano, Lucerne, Engelberg.

I remember Lucerne because of this really cool medieval covered bridge, Kapellbrücke. It was built in 1333, and depicts the city's history. Sadly, it burned to the ground a couple of years after we went, so what's there now is a reproduction.

Hands down, Engelberg was my favorite place. We bunked here for a couple of days, and it was a good place to catch our breaths...or rather, hanging out in some billiards joint, having made use of the hotel's construction scaffolding to escape curfew and hotel room hop.

We took one of these skyways up to the mountaintops - where we froze our bums off, wearing our light summer jackets. Weird, because it was warm enough to picnic at the base of the mountain. Unlike the bigger towns where we'd all get separated, it was quite odd to see our band mates running around town...it felt like our own mini-invasion.

And it was such a sweet little village - all nestled in the beautiful Swiss Alps. Wrong country, but Engelberg was very Sound of Music-y.

(You're singing the puppet show song now, aren't you.)

Lay odl lay odl lay hee hoo